


Aftershocks

by FunkyinFishnet



Category: Professional Wrestling, Ring of Honor
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Developing Relationship, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male Slash, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 10:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5245436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyinFishnet/pseuds/FunkyinFishnet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam Cole is a fucking great clothes designer. It's not his fault that The Kingdom, the company he built from the ground up, decides to throw a coup and not invite him. They're not calling it that but he knows. It turns out his old business partner Kyle O'Reilly and Kyle's current colleague and boyfriend Bobby Fish are willing to be unexpected listening ears and a lot more than Adam bargained for. They've all got a lot of sketching to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftershocks

 

 

 

When Adam saw the designs that would make up The Kingdom’s new collection, it was pretty fucking clear where he stood. Where were his sexy knowing cuts, the sudden prints that had always been his signature, the ensembles brimming with his trademark confidence? It looked like not even a shoe strap of Adam Cole would feature when The Kingdom made their latest splash at New York fashion week.

 

Maria talked about doing what was best for The Kingdom, how it was the synthesis of their different but compatible aesthetics that made The Kingdom great, how this was a direction that they’d all agreed on for the good of the company and their future sales, how strong they were together.

 

Yeah.

 

And Mike and Matt were acting like there was nothing wrong, like Adam hadn’t been shoved aside after everything he’d done. He’d created the fucking Kingdom! He was the one who’d brought them all together, who’d established their credentials as a group. He was the one who’d gotten their name out thanks to his own fucking notoriety, who’d laid the foundations for the amazing company they now were with Mike, Matt and Maria all profitable names in their own right. And now, what, he didn’t fucking matter?

 

Adam walked out without a word, his anger so fucking high. He walked out of Mike and Maria’s penthouse apartment and out of the whole affluent building. His thoughts seethed and stewed, pain bubbling up too as his feet ate up the sidewalk. He ended up at the door of a studio he vaguely recognized, like it mattered right now, and got himself buzzed in. He just needed somewhere. He needed to fucking punching something.

 

What would the Kingdom be without him? They weren’t going to make as many headlines, they weren’t going to start as many conversations or stick around so emphatically in the public eye. Adam’s designs got people talking, as did the way he presented them to the world – come on, that flash-mob all in red and gold, singing and moving to We Are The Champions? Inspired, and it got the mainstream media talking as well as those focused on fashion. Mike, Matt and Maria all had talent, Adam wouldn’t have recruited them otherwise, but to hear Maria speak, they seemed to think they were  **all** the talent the Kingdom had. Adam was a footnote apparently, maybe a stepping stone.

 

Fuck. They all knew how good Adam was, the amount of awards and acclaim he brought to the table. But that didn’t matter apparently, because Maria was suddenly in charge and she, Matt and Mike had decided on the next direction for the company without talking to Adam first. And why was he so mad? They’d seemed surprised.

 

Inside the studio, Adam paced past garment bags and full-length mirrors cocked at angles. There was a low murmur of conversation but Adam ignored it all. What did it fucking matter? His fucking life’s work was being swept aside suddenly. Was this a coup? Maria might protest but it fucking felt like one. They wanted to use his name and image but maybe not him and his ideas anymore. It didn’t make business sense at all.

 

Adam let himself into a large airy room – there were something familiar about it, among the mannequins, couches and an odd pile of beanbags – and sat down heavily on a couch. He was so fucking angry. His phone was buzzing in his pocket, it was probably one of the Kingdom, trying to stop him from doing anything ‘rash’ or ‘ridiculous’ so close to the next collection launch. After what they’d done.

 

He didn’t answer it.

 

A cool glass of water was pressed into his hand. Adam drank it down in large gulps, until a hand touched his wrist firmly, forcing the glass away then Adam drank at a more measured pace. He glanced up and saw Kyle. His heart leaped and his expression didn’t change at all. He was in Kyle O'Reilly's studio? What the fuck? Adam shook his head. Whatever, he had other things to concentrate on.

 

That was what he told Kyle, along with how fucked up the Kingdom were right now and how he didn’t have a single design in their latest collection. He’d done this great sketch of a high-waisted corseted piece with a train that would flow out behind like a cape if walked right. A great dramatic piece that'd catch the eye and grab the headlines. It would have been amazing. He finished the water and someone gave him a sandwich – tuna and salad – and then another, followed by more water.

 

His phone was still buzzing. He stared down at it; someone took it off him and talked about GPS and the internet. There was pain squeezing Adam’s stomach and probably his heart as well. The Kingdom was everything – family and friends, a hell of a business too. He’d thought it was obvious how much he brought to that party, how he’d put them all on the map and they’d all gone on to achieve so much together. And now...now, he didn’t seem to matter. The fuck?

 

The last thing Adam was aware of that night was lying down on the couch, muttering about seed pearls, feeling fingers brush through his hair.

 

*

 

The next morning was loud. Adam cursed and grabbed whatever was in reach and threw it. There was a crash and Adam sank back down onto the...couch? He opened his eyes – he was laying down in what looked like a large airy studio, there were blinds drawn so no light pierced his eyeballs and he didn’t have that dry-mouth near-death hangover feeling either. So what the fuck had happened?

 

A glass of water appeared in front of him. Adam levered himself up and took the glass. Kyle was stood over him, looking a mixture of amused and concerned that didn’t raise Adam’s hackles. Instead Adam’s heart leaped. That was familiar, as was the glass of water. Though still, what the fuck was he doing there?

 

“The GPS is off on your phone,” Kyle told him. “So the Kingdom aren’t going to storm here. You needed some Adam time.”

 

He sounded so casually sure. The Kingdom. Adam grimaced around suddenly vivid memories of the newest company collection and his own absence and his friends’ blasé attitude and then his own emotional crash out, somehow happening in Kyle O’Reilly’s studio. Adam hadn’t had an actual conversation with his former business partner in years. But from Adam’s increasingly clear memories of the previous night, he’d come here by his own free will, to rant a lot and then crash. He muttered incoherent sounds and buried his face in the water glass. Kyle looked more amused.

 

“We haven’t told anyone.”

 

We? Adam’s confusion must have shown on his face because Kyle raised his eyebrows, just as Bobby appeared, dropping a breakfast bagel in Adam’s lap. Right. Bobby, Kyle’s current business partner and boyfriend. Adam didn’t think he’d ever said a civil word to the guy. But there he was, not angry or possessive, wearing jeans with a tucked-in black button-down, the buttons undone a little ways, revealing a whisper of bare skin. Adam registered that, and Bobby’s compact bare feet, his always-neat facial hair and the glasses that really suited him.

 

Bobby nodded, “So, still in one piece, Cole.”

 

He didn’t sound disappointed, in fact there was kindness mixed into his laughing smile. His head hurting now, just from the batshit scenario he was now living, Adam settled for nodding, putting the now-empty glass down and attacking the breakfast bagel. The previous night’s anger hadn’t dwindled – The Kingdom, how the company was reshaping around him, without him.

 

Pain squeezed around Adam’s heart as he rubbed a hand over his face. Bobby chuckled, the fuck, and planted a firm kiss on Kyle’s lips. Adam’s heart moved again, with a different kind of pain.

 

“I’ll go start the circus.”

 

Bobby left Adam with Kyle, breaking into an exclaiming command when he got out into a hallway. How many of their staff knew Adam was there?

 

“I’m sorry about the Kingdom,” Kyle told him seriously.

 

Adam swallowed the last bite of breakfast and nodded, his jaw now tense. Kyle handed him his phone and Adam concentrated on that, on all the messages that’d been left. He felt Kyle lean closer, then away again. He could have imagined it, that was a better idea.

 

“It’s good to see you, Adam.”

 

Adam kept focused on his phone and then felt Kyle leave. Right, Adam had to leave too, out of his bizarroworld. Now, the Kingdom wanted to meet with him. He shoved his shoes on - when had he taken them off? – and headed for the exit, his head and stomach churning. He’d come to Kyle and Bobby’s studio when he’d needed somewhere to rant and camp out. He hadn’t been close to Kyle in years, what the fuck?

 

He heard Bobby and Kyle but didn’t turn to see them as he made for the front door. He didn’t want to disturb them. They’d seen enough and so had he.

 

*

 

**THY KINGDOM DONE?**

 

_Maria Kanellis claims it's only a reshuffling of priorities but there’ve been reports of raised voices at The Kingdom’s Wonderland studio and of Adam Cole, the company’s founder who first found solo fame with his BAY-BAY collection, storming out of at least one meeting, apparently fuming over The Kingdom’s latest collection, set to debut at New York Fashion Week. The always-vocal Cole hasn’t issued any comments or denials as yet..._

 

*

 

Adam met with Maria and the rest of the Kingdom. He listened to their spiel about being a family and about the importance of a united image. Look at how much amazing press the Kingdom had gotten together! Look at what sort of show they were going to put on during fashion week! In the past, Matt and Mike hadn’t featured so heavily in a collection but now it was their turn to shine. Adam was a team player, he knew all about that, right?

 

Only Matt and Mike had always contributed to a collection in some way, Adam was sure of that. And he wasn’t contributing at all now. He was sure they’d had meetings without him, looking back he could spot that, and they were treating him like an idiot.

 

After the meeting, he found a message on his phone, from an unknown number;

 

_You deserve better,  
Kyle._

 

Adam stared at it. He saved the message, and the phone number.

 

*

 

Kyle kept texting him. Just little messages, but they kept coming even though Adam didn’t reply. He’d been close to Kyle before deciding to go it alone and make his own name for himself and then eventually found his own collaborative fashion house – The Kingdom. It had been glorious. Until now. Adam had run coups himself; he knew what they looked like.

 

His stomach and heart squeezed with pain. He concentrated on sketching out some ideas, ideas that weren’t going to be included at fashion week because apparently everything was locked down already and didn’t Adam remember that meeting? No, because it was one of the ones they conveniently hadn’t invited him to. Now they told Adam there was press that wanted to talk to him, he should do it, contribute like he always did for the Kingdom’s sake.

 

Adam’s phone buzzed again. This message wasn’t from Kyle though.

 

_They’re fucked without you,  
Bobby_

 

That made Adam pause. A message from Bobby. They were virtual strangers. They only had Kyle in common. Adam didn’t answer it. What the fuck was he supposed to say?

 

When he looked down at his sketch though, he could see shapes that he’d last focused on during his time designing with Kyle, when Future Shock had been set on showing the world just what they could do and why the world should take immediate notice. Adam traced a familiar line and felt something loosen around his heart.

 

*

 

In the second week of the Kingdom acting like he was being unreasonable and ridiculous, Adam was eating takeout and thinking about going to the gym as he checked the usual online blogs for the kind of information every fashion insider wanted when he spied the Kingdom and reDRagon’s names linked together. Matt and Mike had given an interview apparently – when? – in which they hyped up the Kingdom’s new collection and had had scoffed and torn into ‘what they’d heard’ about reDRagon's latest work, giving way too many details and spoilers. Adam frowned at the website, no, websites, he was reading. Matt and Mike definitely had inside information, they were that specific. Amongst their sneers, they were leaking details of reDRagon’s new (and until now completely unknown) collection.

 

Adam had done a lot of things to get ahead in this industry. He cared about very few people in it but Kyle was one of them, even after all this time and the silence between them. Kyle had been his best friend for years, Adam had pushed him aside but that hadn’t meant he’d stopped thinking of him as a friend, as a...

 

Well, that didn’t matter. And by the time Adam had realized it, it’d been too late anyway.

 

So, this was too far. This was shots fucking fired. This was a message to him from the rest of the Kingdom. Oh, fuck them. He texted Kyle and Bobby without a second thought.

 

_I didn’t know._

 

He got a message back from Bobby  _– Yeah._

 

That was it. What did it mean? Was it sarcasm? Disbelief? Adam’s fingers drummed hard on the table. His heart and stomach were squeezing with pain again.

 

He set up a meeting with the rest of the Kingdom and put his phone on silent.

 

*

 

**REDRAGON FIRED UP**

 

_Few who saw last year’s underwater-themed catwalk show from Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish of reDRagon have forgotten the unusual and balanced combination of sexiness and humor that was achieved that day. It came as a complete surprise, secrecy being the key for making a fashion week splash but now O’Reilly and Fish have had to cope with details of their upcoming collection being leaked by The Kingdom who’ve been dealing with their own negative headlines recently._

 

“ _It’s an asshole thing to do,” is Bobby Fish’s blunt comment. “So of course, it’s from The Kingdom. Clearly they’re worried about our collection and how theirs is going to compare. And they should be.”_

 

“ _We’re still deciding,” Kyle O’Reilly says when asked if the collection will be reworked at all. “A lot of work’s gone into this and we really really like how it’s developing. It’s more than worth showing the world.”_

 

_Fish also makes a point of singling out Adam Cole as the only member of The Kingdom not involved in their recent decision to take their rivalry with reDRagon up to such a personal level. A surprising move considering how vicious things got between Cole and O’Reilly following the dissolution of their label Future Shock. But it’s something Fish is firm about;._

 

“ _Adam’s an outstanding talent and sometimes he’s a pretty decent person. If he’d been at all involved in this trainwreck, he’d have made sure we all knew about it. Like a lot of recent Kingdom business, he’s been locked out of this one.”_

 

*

 

The Kingdom told him that reDRagon didn’t matter. They were the competition so they had to be fucked with. Wasn’t that what Adam always did? Yes, but not to friends, not to people that mattered. And like the Kingdom weren’t fucking with him.

 

There were a lot of raised voices and Maria, speaking as the self-proclaimed leader of the company (when the fuck had that happened? Another meeting Adam must have missed), told Adam that he needed to look at his priorities. The Kingdom was what was important here and the Kingdom was doing just fine, if Adam kept the company as his focus.

 

Nice, the knives were out now.

 

Adam left them to it, making no promises in his wake, and went back to his own studio – a place he’d bought years ago with huge windows and therefore lots of natural light. He wanted to pace and..and he was not going to go to Kyle and Bobby’s studio again. After the Kingdom’s press activity, he doubted he’d be welcome there anyway. There was that pain again.

 

He focused on sketching; he needed to relax somehow, and then, in a moment of fiery inspiration, began pattern cutting and got his old sewing machine out. They had staff to do that now but Adam had itchy fingers and a busy brain and even if he went out and avoided reDRagon’s studio, he was pretty sure he’d say something the Kingdom would regret. He wouldn’t.

 

He didn’t chose Kingdom-red or gold for the material. He cut deep blue fabric with a shimmer to it that made his mouth twitch. The shimmer would catch the light if the train turned out how he wanted. There was a lot of stitching to do. How long had it been since Adam had actually created a garment from scratch?

 

He remembered days that he and Kyle had spent in cramped apartments, hand-stitching and sharing a sewing machine, planning how they were going to break into the industry. He remembered how Kyle had looked, how he’d laughed.

 

Adam pricked his finger and thought about Maria laughing instead.

 

*

 

It was several weeks later, in between ongoing arguments with The Kingdom, that Adam sent a photo of the gown to Kyle and Bobby. He could see his own aesthetic in there, in the cut and faux-boning of the bodice, and he could see Kyle too, in the sweep of the back. The side-lacing, Adam realized, could have come from one of Bobby’s designs. Okay...

 

_It suits you_ Kyle messaged him.

 

_Not sure it’ll sell_ was Bobby’s opinion, followed by  _Not that it matters_ .

 

Yeah.

 

Adam looked at the design for a good long time. His phone pinged – he’d set it so he was notified when the Kingdom appeared in the press – but he ignored it for now. For now. His heart jumped and there was pain.

 

*

 

Maria was still smiling whenever she talked to Adam but there was an edge there now, something triumphant and patronizing and weren’t the Kingdom doing well? Aren’t we in the fashion pages more than any other company right now? Aren’t we going to sweep everyone away at fashion week?

 

Adam was supposed to be happy.

 

Kyle turned up at his studio that week, brandishing a boxed lunch for both of them. He sat on a window sill and made sure Adam ate up the sandwich and drank the chunky vegetable soup.

 

“Bobby’s work,” Kyle commented, pride rich in his voice.

 

Adam raised an eyebrow, Bobby had made soup? When exactly had he had the time? It tasted good though, with a burn on the tongue that Adam appreciated. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten that kind of homemade lunch. And Bobby had made it. Kyle nudged a knee against Adam’s, leaving it close. It all felt very...cozy.

 

“I really do like the gown,” Kyle told him, amid a story about his latest beagle pup and Bobby’s favorite scarf.

 

Adam glanced up, his gaze drifting to the gown itself – displayed on a mannequin – and back to Kyle again. Kyle’s expression was all sincerity. Of course it was. Adam smiled quietly, his heart leaping all over again. Just before Kyle left the studio, he kissed Adam high up on the cheek, a casual goodbye that didn’t feel casual at all. And Adam saw Kyle’s ears burning. Well.

 

His heart thumped fast and he ignored the notifications beeping on his phone. Screw you, Maria.

 

*

 

Less than a week later, Bobby brought him dinner – pasta and sauce. It tasted really good.

 

“Did you make this too?”

 

Bobby grinned, “Not the pasta, but I'm working on it."

 

Right. The sauce was still really good. Adam finished his box. Bobby was staring, he still looked good. He was wearing a shirt that Kyle had designed; the buttons were the biggest giveaway. Adam focused on them.

 

“You gonna hurt him again?” Bobby asked suddenly.

 

Adam’s gaze jerked and, yes, that was probably a fair question. “Not right now.”

 

“You don’t regret what happened before.”

 

Adam shook his head, the fact Kyle was hurt, yes but not what Adam had gotten out of it. They’d been the biggest story at that year’s London fashion week, their rival shows. Adam could never regret what he’d gained. He doubted Bobby did either – look at what it’d brought him.

 

Bobby didn’t look surprised. He took the empty pasta box from Adam. When he left, he kissed Adam’s cheek, the opposite one to Kyle.

 

Adam stayed quiet for half an hour. Then he grasped for a pencil.

 

*

 

Kyle sent him a series of photos – a heap of sheer sequined fabric, scissors cutting it, a shirt, no, a dress. Adam thumbed through the images. The dress was good work, not the kind of material that reDRagon usually went for. In fact, it hazily reminded Adam of some of his older stuff, the boning maybe and the hemline. His heart jumped.

 

_Kinda familiar,_ he sent the message to both of them, smiling.

 

It wasn’t like he had room to talk; he was still sketching a lot of familiar Future Shock lines. He paused and then texted again.

 

_Beautiful._

 

Because it was. Because they were too.

 

*

 

It’d been more than a week since he’d last heard from The Kingdom. Adam had stopped leaving messages. He messaged Kyle and Bobby instead.

 

They turned up at his studio with a stack of takeout boxes. Bobby was wearing a blazer over his shirt and jeans; Kyle was teasing him about it. The conversation stayed light and funny. Adam felt like he hadn’t smiled so much in a long while. He showed them what he’d been designing; he knew they’d see the Future Shock influence. Kyle squeezed his shoulder and kissed his cheek. Bobby kissed him low on the jaw, his lips grazing the corner of Adam’s mouth. Adam stilled, his hand clenching at Bobby’s side. Bobby raised an eyebrow.

 

“Like you didn’t know this was coming.”

 

Yeah, what Adam was feeling wasn't surprise. With a surge, he turned his head to briefly catch Bobby's mouth. Bobby smirked and bit down on Adam's bottom lip. Kyle handed Adam a beer and sat close, their sides pressed together. Adam rested his hand high up on Kyle’s thigh. Bobby closely inspected Adam’s sketches.

 

Yeah.

 

Adam turned his phone off.

 

*

 

**FUTURE AFTERSHOCK?**

 

_Weeks after their collection garnered rave reviews at New York Fashion week, reDRagon have announced that they will be releasing a capsule collection in collaboration with Adam Cole, formerly of both Future Shock and The Kingdom. Cole claims it’s inspired by “firing up the past and moving on too, all that good complicated shit, a real collaboration by a trio of winners, right here.” Fish, seen here with boyfriend and long-time collaborator O’Reilly plus Cole, has talked about the excitement of working with someone he’d never dreamed of working with before, “He's a dick, Kyle and I are fucking excited to work with him.”_

 

_The new collaboration has been dubbed New reDRagon by some in the media, though O’Reilly confides, “We like Aftershock better.” The Kingdom couldn’t be reached for comment._

 

_-the end_


End file.
